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Protip: if you ever want to downplay inequality, gloss over wealth inequality and focus on income inequality to the exclusion of all else. It's VERY effective.
by pydry 2y ago
Protip: if you ever want to downplay inequality, gloss over wealth inequality and focus on income inequality to the exclusion of all else.
It's VERY effective.
- iLoveOncall 2y agoThe article also uses income... Anyway, if anything the distribution based on wealth would even more starkly be hyper-focused at the top, the people in the 10-9% range aren't exactly sitting on mountains of gold.
- vincnetas 2y agoAre we sure? For me it looks like article uses ownership.
- Earw0rm 2y ago90th percentile 21-year-old has nothing. With college debt their assets are net negative. 90th percentile 65 year old has perhaps $1M+ in accumulated property wealth and retirement savings. There is some generational inequality at work, but that 65 year old also had ~zero at 21. The 90th percentile 21 year old will likely be doing very well by the time they're 65, hard to say whether better or worse than today's cohort.
- pydry 2y agoSome of those 90th percentile 21 year olds genuinely have nothing while others are in line to receive a bumper payday when their parents die.
- Earw0rm 2y agoYep, and some have a lot more or less potential ahead of them, as well as "soft power", social capital and so on. But in any case, with longer lifespans, many/most won't see inheritance until their 50s, 60s, even 70s, long past what are arguably the most expensive years (buying a home, raising kids and so on). Maybe in time to pay college fees, depending on when they have kids. Even for the relatively wealthy, it's the luck of the draw - healthcare and senior care costs many hundreds of thousands for some, and virtually nothing for others.
- HDThoreaun 2y agoincome is what people consume, it's what we should measure when thinking about inequality.
- pydry 2y agoWho needs somewhere to live or money in the bank?
- HDThoreaun 2y agoI dont think anyone would care if some people just had huge piles of money in the bank. Its what they do with the money that causes problems. That's income.
- pydry 2y agoThey use it to purchase assets which you need. This is a large component of the war on affordable housing.
- HDThoreaun 2y agoThis countries lack of affordable housing is due to NIMBYs pulling the ladder up after themselves. We could build enough housing for all the short term rentals and second homes people want if it was legal. Rich people owning houses isnt a problem unless theyre leaving them vacant en masse which by and large is not happening.
- pydry 2y agoIt's the other way around. If you think about it it's a little ridiculous to think that the entire world had a NIMBY crisis all at the same time. Vacant en masse is happening a fair bit there are even some near where i live. Mostly it's more people renting though. The war on affordable housing is all around.
- 2y ago